Charmander Silhouette

He's a cute lizard. And He's on fire.

Behind the carving

About this piece

This is Dallin Webb's (my) first layered carving. Having only done exposed carvings, I thought carving the pumpkin without sawing all the way through the rind would be more difficult, but I found it no harder than anything I was already used to. From here, I excitedly looked for more stencils in a layered style, but I learned with disappointment that as limited as the online selection of exposed stencils are, stencil selection for layered carvings is worse still. Shortly after this jack-o-lantern, I began researching how to make my own stencils.

Carving tips

If this is your first layered jack-o-lantern, don't let it intimidate you! You'll be surprised how simple it is.
After stencil removal, I recommend tracing all the shapes of this stencil with a knife before carving chunks out; it will keep your edges cleaner.